Two of the frontrunners in the Coral Gables Group 2 commission race were the subjects of a mobile poll last week that tested negative messages against one of them.
Voters were asked if they would be more likely or less likely to vote for a candidate if they had been “charged by Boston, Massachusetts police with disorderly conduct for refusing to stop smoking in a hotel room” or if they were “married to prominent lobbyist and son of former Miami Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez.”
Everybody knows that the questions refer to Tania Cruz-Gimenez, wife of lobbyist CJ Gimenez.
But who knew he was prominent? Since when?
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Every other candidate in the clusterbunch Group 2 race is attacking Cruz-Gimenez on the friends and family plan thing. She tried to turn it around to her favor when she boasted of “relationships that can be beneficial” at the Chamber of Commerce forum Thursday. Her suegro is now a congressman.
But Ladra thinks that the winner of the negative messages is going to be the trash thing. Coral Gables people are crazy about their garbage and trash pick up. And one of the questions is how likely or unlikely the person is to vote for a candidate who had years of unpaid trash collection bills.
“That was my fault,” said CJ Gimenez, who has been a dutiful husband throughout the campaign. He thought that the fees were paid yearly with the tax bill, like they do in Miami and the county. He told Ladra he paid them as soon as he was flagged to it.
Both he and the candidate know the attacks are coming, but laughed it off.
“Clearly, they’re worried,” Cruz-Gimenez told Ladra.
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But surely, they knew these would come all along. And Jose Valdes Fauli would not be funding this mobile poll if he was not going to use it.
Yes, it’s Valdes-Fauli’s poll. Not just because he’s the only one with the money to do such a poll, but also and mostly because another one of the questions asked voters if they were more or less likely to vote for a candidate who was the “brother of the long-time current mayor.”
Which brings up a good point. Why does someone who has been in Coral Gables for so long, whose brother is two time Mayor Raul Valdes-Fauli, have to go after a first-time candidate?
Because she has relationships that are beneficial and is a real threat.
Coral Gables poll on commission race hints of hits to come in Group 2 contest added by Ladra on
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